On dreams, in their mental and moral aspects, as affording auxiliary arguments for the existence of spirit, for a 'separate state' and for a particular Providence. In two essays / by John Sheppard.

  • Sheppard, John, 1940-2009.
Date:
1847
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On dreams, in their mental and moral aspects, as affording auxiliary arguments for the existence of spirit, for a 'separate state' and for a particular Providence. In two essays / by John Sheppard. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    dreams,—and the intellectual inventiveness and power occasionally exerted in dreaming. These facts, it will be argued, appear to cor- roborate other arguments for the immateriality of the soul, and to indicate also its capacity for thought in a state of separation from the present or visible bodily structure. In the second Essay it is proposed to ex- amine, and partially confirm, the prevailing impression, that some dreams have been specially ordered for important ends by the ruling Providence of God; yet strongly, at the same time, to discourage a fanciful or superstitious misuse of that persuasion. Let me here pi’emise, that we may infer how naturally arguments for a spiritual sub- stance, and a divine Providence, have been deduced by mankind from certain phenomena of dreaming, when we are aware how soliei- tous the philosophic advocates of materialism have been to account for them mechanically. Thus Epicurus, who held that “ the soul is a subtle corporeal substance composed of the finest atoms,” ‘ taught that “ dreams are the effect of images casually flying about, which * Enfield, Hist. Philos, vol. i. p. ■IG?.